Saturday, May 16, 2009

Last week


Hello everyone...

Last week we were revising conditionals and we also learnt how to agree and disagree with someone using "Neither (do) I" and "So (do) I".

You can practice here and also here.
We also learnt in 2nd H how to use may/might, but we will revise it next week.

You should practise as much as you can doing the activities in the workbook and the reading activities in the book that are left.

See you on Monday/Tuesday!

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

Two songs using the second conditional

Hello everyone,

As I promised, here you have two more songs using the second conditional structure. There are plenty of them, as imaginary situations are a very apt topic to write a song, imagining a better world, something we wish...

The first one is Eric Clapton's Tears in Heaven. Wikipedia says:

"Tears in Heaven" is a ballad written by Eric Clapton and Will Jennings about the pain he felt following the 20 March 1991 death of his four-year-old son, Conor, who fell out of a 53rd-story window in his Mother's [Lori] New York City condominium. By all accounts, the death was simply a tragic accident, and Clapton was distraught for months afterwards. This song is one of Clapton's most successful, reaching #2 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart in the U.S. The song also spent three weeks at #1 on the American adult contemporary chart in 1992.



The second song, I must confess, is one of my favourites. It is Alanis Morissette's Utopia. Please, read the lyrics and think about them... the message is so deep. She is imagining a "Utopia", a perfect world. So the song pre-sentence should be: "If this world was a Utopia, we'd..."

Here you have some interesting facts about it:

The song was partly inspired by Morissette's experiences during her trips across the world and in particular her stay at a Navajo reservation.
Originally, the song's final pre-chorus was to repeat the lyrics from the first pre-chorus. Morissette said however, that after 9/11, she felt inspired to write another pre-chorus. Given the context of that it was written, that verse stands strongly as arguably the most moving part of the song.

In late September 2001, in response to the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, Morissette previewed "Utopia" on her website. She said she wanted the song to comfort the people who were grieving; according to her, it "sheds light on the willingness to understand" and "the passionate desire to stand up and show a self-care and self-respect."



There may be vocabulary that you don't undestand as Alanis normally uses complicated words, but I invite you to read it more slowly and think about it.

I hope you enjoy the songs!

Sunday, May 10, 2009

Conditionals

Hello everyone,

Last week we were learning about the first conditional clause and introduced the second.

But I am sure what you most enjoyed was the speaking activities, didn' you?

Next week, we will be practicing the second conditional sentences, mainly by speaking and through songs.
Here you have the link to "Wouldn't it be nice", by the Beach Boys. You have an activity there, and the key is inserted in the document.

You can watch this "cheesy" video made by some "Jessica". Thanks Jessica, whoever you are.



Isn't it cheesy? :-D


Changing topic, I would like to join my workmate Gelo in his recommendation of a cine forum organised by Talking English. This month, it is dedicated to Woody Allen.
Here you have a link to his blog if you want to find more information.

See you in class!